UM Hoops.com

Recruiting Roundup (12-29-2008)

Commits

Darius Morris

Darius led Windward to a 54-50 win over Bellarmine Prep. Morris had a game high 22 points including 2 free throws with 50 seconds left to give Windward the lead. In the next game of the Max Preps classic Windward fell to Bellevue (WA) by a score of 57-48, Morris had 18 in the loss [HIGHLIGHTS].

Here are some notes from a UMHoops reader who made it to Darius’ first game:

Anthony Stover (former UM recruit-headed to UCLA) looks shockingly similar to Greg Oden. Stover does not have an offensive game but had around 10 blocks. Big project on the next level.

They played against Bellarmine Prep from Northern Cal. Team had only one D1 player (Niyi Harrison) headed to Santa Clara.

Malcolm Washington (Denzel’s son) was a good scrappy player.

Steve Kerr was in the building watching. Gym 70% full.Â It was close the entire game, Windward won 54-50.

Morris finished with 22 points on 9-22 shooting. The best thing was that he scored his points in a variety of ways, mostly drives. He had a beautiful separation fade-away to end the first quarter. He picked up his third foul with 4 minutes left in the second quarter. Great penetrator in the open court, made a lot of no look passes. Would have had around 10 assists if his teammates could make their layups. His on court demeanor was good, pretty positive with the rest of his teammates.

I feel that D-mo will be much better when he is surrounded by better players. In my opinion his coaching is subpar, his team has 3 D1 players and the game shouldn’t have been close.

The team ran a lot of these NBA sets to isolate D-Mo with the ball, but he would do nothing with it. I think D-Mo is a good penetrator but he doesn’t have a fast first step.

He will be much better in Michigan’s offense with much more running. If he were playing for Michigan today he would play 20 mins a game. Overall, D-mo was pretty much everything I expected; nothing great but everything solid.

Matt Vogrich

Lake Forest is off to a good start in the State Farm Holiday Classic with wins over Kankakee Bishop Mac (box) and Sterling (box).Â Vogrich led all scorers in both wins with 27 and 24 point performances. Lake Forest plays Normal Community High School in the semi-finals today at 4:30 PM.

The folks at Scout.com were big fans of Matt’s play this week at the State Farm Classic. They mentioned that beyond his shooting he is a tough player who can get to the hole and also plays well away from the ball.

Morgan bounced back after a frustrating start to his season with 28 points in a 72-63 win over Detroit Cass Tech.

Blake McLimans

Blake was listed as one of the top shooters in the NE area by the NERR. It’s been a transition for Blake at Worcester but his numbers seem to be going up as he gets more in the swing of things. I’ve only seen a little bit of video but you can see why Beilein loves the kid. Blake looks so comfortable putting the ball on the floor and shooting it that you wouldn’t believe he’s 6-10.

’10 Recruits

Will Regan

Will Regan had 19 points 10 rebounds and six blocks in Nichols’ 53-46 win over Poly-Tech. Regan has been a monster early on for Nichols and I wouldn’t be surprised to see his stock continue to rise.

Alex Dragicevich

Glenbrook North beat Hillcrest (45-43) but fell to Morton (63-51). Dragicevich had 24 points and 6 rebounds against Hillcrest, but only had 7 points and 5 turnovers against Morton while shooting 1-8 from long range.

GBN will be in action again this afternoon in the consolation bracket.

Tim Hardaway Jr.

Hardaway Jr. had 25 points in Palmetto’s 69-55 win over Columbia at the Hoopla at Vero Beach.

Cameron Ayers

Germantown lost to Archibishop Carroll 63-52. Ayers had 17 points with three triples.

Germantown beat North Catholic 57-56 and Cameron Ayers scored 24 points with a triple and 10 made field goals.

Allen Payne

Winton Woods beat Seminole, FL 61-54 in the first round of the Seminole Classic. They will be in action Monday and Tuesday as well.

Ray McCallum

The talented point guard has been dominating the competition early on this year. McCallum is probably a long shot for U-M but his play is worth mentioning. McCallum had 18 in an overtime win against Chicago DeLaSalle and 27 in a blowout win over Grand Ledge.

’11+ Recruits

Brandan Kearney & Percy Gibson

Detroit Southeastern beat Saginaw65-61. Kearney and Gibson both had solid games. Kearney hit a couple triples for 9 points and 6 assists. Kearney hasn’t been putting up gaudy numbers but everything you read about Brandan points to his poise and being a smart player. Gibson had 8 points and 10 boards.